Damanaki’s drive to change the fish we eat

Maria Damanaki, the European commissioner for fisheries and maritime affairs, wants Europeans to eat more fish. She says this is the driving force behind her proposal to reform the Common Fisheries Policy with a ban on fish discards and the overfishing of certain stocks in order to return them to healthy levels by 2015.

“Our current policy does not work anymore,” she said when launching her proposal for reform last year, adding that if things remain the same, “our children will see fish not on their plate, but only in pictures”.

Introduced in the 1970s to boost the European fisheries industry, the policy soon became a victim of its own success, increasing capacity to such an extent that 75% of EU stocks are now overfished, according to the Commission. Damanaki’s proposal would restrict fishing for the most over-exploited stocks until they return to maximum sustainable yield.

Alfred Schumm, leader of the global fisheries programme at campaign group WWF, says fish are likely to become a more important part of the diet of Europeans as meat prices rise, driven by increased demand from a growing middle class in Asia. He says the best thing Europeans can do to ensure there will be enough to eat is to change the type of fish they are eating.

“Over the next ten to 20 years, we will not be able to significantly increase the catch of fish,” he says. “What I would wish is we eat more low-trophic level fish.

We should take up the Mediterranean tradition of eating sardines, or eating herring in northern Europe.”

High-trophic fish such as tuna, which are higher up in the food chain, are being overfished. There are greater numbers of low-trophic fish, which use less energy because they consume mostly plant life. If high-trophic species continue to be overfished, Europeans may have no choice but to switch to eating species rarely seen on the plate until now.